Welcome to the "Believe it or Not- That's Incredible India!" series. India is home to some of the most astonishing wonders in the world. The rich culture, heritage, food, scriptures, architectural marvels and scores of known and unknown facts come together to create this multicolored melange that is India. Throughout this month, read about the various believe it or not facts about India and know what goes into the making of this incredible country!
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Albert Einstein famously said,
“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”
He wasn’t simply making an emotional statement; there was plenty of data to back that up. Here are some interesting number facts-
As early as the 8th century B.C. the Indian mathematician Budhayana had calculated the value of ‘pi’ and he explained in detail what we now know as the Pythagoras Theorem. This was long before the European mathematician gave us the concept.
The study of Algebra (Bija Ganitam), Geometry (Rekha Gamitam), Trigonometry, and Calculus originated in India.
The ‘place value system’ was developed in India in 100 BC.
Sridharacharya studied and explained the Quadratic equations in the 11th century.
The largest numbers used by the western world was 106 whereas Indian scholars used numbers as big as 1053 with specific names as early as 5000 BC during the Vedic period .
Even today the largest number used is Peta which is 1015.
Talking of Vedic mathematics, it is an ancient system of Mathematics developed by Indian scholars. The technique was so advanced that the scholars were able to compute most complex arithmetical problems mentally without the use of paper or pen.
When the excavation of ancient site at Harappa was done, weights and measures with decimal values were found. Scales with precise markings and measurements were also found at the sites and were used to ensure proper implementation of town planning. This showed that the decimal system was in place much before it was developed and introduced in the modern world.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Believe it or not – That’s incredible India!
